Thanks to Steve Krause for finding blogHelper's Using WordPress as CMS. Steve notably omitted the counter from blogHelper, 5 Reasons Not to Use WordPress As a CMS. As blogHelper points out,
You’re Pushing It
WordPress was built to be a blog platform first, everything else second. So, everytime you push it to do something else, remember that you’re making it do something it wasn’t meant to do.
I see this all the time. People using WordPress, or more often MT, as a web publishing tool to try to build a website that really needs a full-featured CMS such as Drupal, Joomla, or Plone. Think of MT or WP as a specialized, $20 Lego car model kit. It's meant to build that car and maybe with a few variations. And perhaps you can squeeze something else out of it. But if you are looking to do more than build that kind of Lego car, you really need the mega tub of Legos or maybe K'nex (depending on the range of things you want to build).
This is a good analogy, too, because many newbies to CMS's are easily frustrated because they can't find directions to build exactly what they want. Documentation on the CMS websites is much like the booklet that comes with that giant box of Legos or K'nex. It'll have a few examples, but the software designers just can't explain how to build the whole range of websites and their variations (on the other hand, it is very easy to do so with WP or MT). For that, one has to become familiar with the building blocks, learn to use one's imagination, and look at what others are building with their box of blocks.
So the best advice is to dive into a CMS and begin experimenting. I don't know about anyone else, but the way I learned to build with Legos was just to sit down and play with them. And like playing with those Legos, there were many times when I have had to tear down a site and begin again until I really got good at working with the pieces.
What does CMS stand for?
Js Steve looking for a content management system or a course management system? If Course, how much management does he need? Might be he only needs a very basic structure --no gradebook, no roster, no quizzing-- just a shared writing architecture where he can easily see what students are composing and they can see what each other are doing.
That said, I agree with your premise -- asking a tool to do something it wasn't designed to do can really make it fail. Not always --sometimes you can remove a screw with a butter knife-- but often enough that you don't want to make it a habit.
Nick Carbone
side note: CMS vs LMS
I think we should avoid the use of the term "course management system." Educators have popularly used both course management system and learning management system to denote the applications used for online learning and sharing of course content, so I tend to stick to LMS for those systems, and CMS for content management system.
Moreover, this is one of the major problems with Blackboard and WebCT. Their development focus is on course management, course administration, and even content management sometimes at the exclusion of learning. So let's adopt the term that will continually remind everyone what we expect these systems to do and at the same time we avoid the CMS vs CMS confusion.
BTW: I like the butter knife analogy. When I set off to college at the age of 18, I had my couple screwdrivers and I could never find it or had it around when it was needed. The butter knife, or even a dime, often came in handy. Now that I'm older, like many people, I have multiple screwdrivers around the house so that they are always easy to find and different types to fit the exact job. I even have one of those multi-tip screwdrivers in the car.
Similarly, I think that educators who specialize in writing with technology ought to eventually buy that big (and multiple) set of screwdrivers. We will still always be able to show that teacher who does not specialize in teaching with technology how to teach with a butter knife and eventually transition them to something better :-)
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Charlie | cyberdash
legos, butter knives, screwdrivers
I like what Drupal does -- but man, it's hard to put all the parts together, and sometimes the kludges are lacking in grace. I like what WP and MT do -- but, yes, they're limited to being best at doing that one thing. Both tendencies indicate one common trait: tools, no matter how sophisticated, have a limited range of ideal applications. I might turn your metaphor around, Charlie, and say: why not the best tool for the best job?
Yeah, I've got a box of 64 interchangeable screwdriver bits -- but sometimes that stubby old Phillips is the best fit under the hood of the car rather than the fancy bit-changing screwdriver. In other words: certainly, there's a lot of stuff Drupal (or other CMSes) can do, but knowing your needs and figuring out the one or two dedicated apps to serve those needs is often far less costly in intellectual overhead than learning the vast and complex abstractions that'll let you do lots and lots of things.
I'm not in any way knocking Drupal, of course -- but I'm wondering about philosophies of interoperability. In other aspects of software development, it seems like the day of the monolithic one-size-fits-all app has passed, to be replaced by the modular many-small-solutions with hooks into one another approach. Drupal seems to be a bit of both: a single and monolithic solution, but with amazing flexibility in terms of the way its plugins/modules are designed. But -- to extend the lego metaphor -- what happens if a competitor's got bricks that you really, really like, only they've got different-sized bumps?
:-)
-- Mike http://www.vitia.org/
Drupal, Plone, Joomla--Each Has It's Own Merits
I didn't specify Drupal. You are assuming that is what I was talking about ;-) I think there are plenty of CMS choices, each with its own merit. One should choose the flavor that best fits one's long term goals for site development.
That being said, I've seen huge discussions about exactly what you had said about the best tool for the job. Some web designers say find your tool and use it and adopt it as necessary. Others say use the CMS that best fits the job. In the discussion I saw it was probably a 60-40 split in favor of the former because a good CMS should be an application environment that allows for modification and expansion. So really if one is going to spend that much time to learn multiple apps, one can get further spending that time working with one. Still, it's like the Mac vs PC debate--more opinion than anything else. One half dozen or the other. It's a web design lifestyle choice.
However, there is one advantage to sticking with one when it comes to open source. More experience with one app gives one more expertise to assit in building the app. Imagine a scholar who tried to be an expert in many interdisciplinary areas. It would be much harder to do and have a less significant impact than it would be to invest the same time in one major area.
"But -- to extend the lego metaphor -- what happens if a competitor's got bricks that you really, really like, only they've got different-sized bumps?"
LOL
You code it--or find someone to code it--for your application if you have made the right choice in terms of picking something that is extensible.
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Charlie | cyberdash
Here's all I know....
Here's all I know about this stuff: